Even extraordinary becomes normal if it becomes common. That was the thought going through Hope's head at that moment, and she felt a wave of irrational anger. Towards Bai Qing, because she felt more entitled to her master's time, towards that old man who made it impossible for her to leave her domain, and most of all she was angry at how stifled she felt. She had thought the infinite expanse of the star platform would help calm her down, it only sunk her deeper into her head which had no happy thoughts right now.

An idea popped into the changing girl's mind. What if she just removed the threat herself. Yes, that idea pleased her. She could not push little Bai Qing out of her lord's life, she was too important to her lord but all was still well. When a better brood mate came along she would be naturally replaced as was the right of the strong, best of all that new mate would be lower than her on her lord's hierarchy. But dealing with an old human was much easier, he was weak and frail hiding behind his pitiful essence that he called his cultivation. His bones would have become soft with age, his meat tender, she wondered if his essence would taste any better than her master, like an old fine alcohol.

The thought angered her even more. How dare she even compare the two, her lord had the strongest, thickest and tastiest essence around. She only had gorged on it too much and simply desired something different to cleanse her palate. Yes, that is all it would be. It would be killing two demons in one strike. Sure her lord had told her to stay in their domain but she knew it was because her lord still thought of her as weak. Then would it not be two but three demons in one strike as she would prove herself to her master. Maybe even four as that would mean she was stronger than Bai and therefore more deserving of his attention.

The more she thought about it, the more the idea appealed to her. It might be against the wishes of her lord but she was a true mate and not a brood like Bai Qing, this meant she had some more autonomy. But she could not go now. Every time she came to the real world from the star platform she appeared very close to her lord. Her lord would most likely not agree with her because he thought she was weak and therefore stealth was required.

It irked her that she had to sneak around, she was powerful and such inferior tactics should be beneath her. But thinking how her lord would take her when he realized how wrong he was made the stain on her majesty worthwhile.

Another thought occurred to her, her lord told her that man had high standing in the sect. Did that not mean his pocket was ripe with treasures. It was true that even the whole treasure pavilion sis not have enough treasures to even begin to satisfy her. But it would be a start to their hoard.

Thinking of how happy her lord would be when she would become the first provider to their mound of treasure had sealed the deal on an already firm notion.

Unbeknownst to the girl, her pupils had shifted to become more like slits and her irises glowed like a fire was burning at the edges. A soft growl had escaped her that did not sound human at all. She did not notice it but her very gait had shifted from unwittingly sultry to a lethal predator and not of the sexy kind. A splattering of scales rimmed the edge of her whole form. This shift was slow and had been slowly happening over the last couple of weeks, the change had felt so natural that the girl did not stop to question her own darker thoughts. There were only three people who would have noticed these changes and none of them were currently present. Simon had just gotten strong enough to start moving while Bai Qing was next to him for every moment. Phe was going through her tribulations which had left Hope all alone to deal with whatever was going on.

Her thoughts were darker much more animalistic yet her higher thought functions were on overdrive. She was probably smarter than she was ever but there was a more primal edge to her. She was allowing herself to be guided by these primal feelings. This was no fault of hers, the girl's mental growth had taken a dive due to all the horror inflicted on her. She did not have the presence of mind to realize that she was shifting both mentally and physically. A big issue was she was isolated in the star platform which only exacerbated the situation.

Finally, the essence rolling off her was monstrous. It was true that she was channeling Simon's nigh infinite essence pool but that could not take away the fact that the essence was visible to the naked eye for even the mortals. Such a feat was only possible if she was at the very limit the limit of the world itself and half a step from breaking it. That meant she was half a step to the fourth stage of cultivation. It was such a shame all this happened in isolation with no guidance from anyone, otherwise, the brutality that would soon occur could have been avoided. What was even scarier was that she had perfect control of her essence. When she even thought of stealth that tsunami of power vanished without a trace.

This monster in human skin had set its eyes on a mere foundation realm cultivator. One could only pray his death was swift for the night was about to fall and the monster was about to move.